Victim identified in dismemberment case as manhunt continues

Montreal
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Bizarre details continue to emerge regarding the online profile of Luca Rocco Magnotta, the man accused of the murder and dismemberment of the now identified victim, Lin Jun, as the manhunt for the alleged killer goes international.

The victim is believed to be Lin Jun, a student at Concordia University, says The Globe and Mail. Lin was reported missing the day before the suitcase containing partial remains was discovered in a downtown Montreal alley on Wednesday. Friends and family of the victim say they lost contact with him last Friday.

Police are now saying the video titled "1 Lunatic, 1 Ice Pick" depicts the actual murder of which Magnotta is accused. The disturbing video shows the alleged killer dismembering, cannibalizing, then having sex with the corpse.

The video was posted online Saturday, four days before the package containing the victim's severed foot was delivered to Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.

Regarding possible motives, the perpetrator "is keen for attention and is calculating each move for maximum reaction," experts say. He is also known for expressing an interest in necrophilia.

Philip Simpson, author of Psycho Paths: Tracking the Serial Killer Through Contemporary American Film and Fiction, calls the videos "a 'post-modern' version of the letter-writing fear campaigns such as the one mounted long ago by unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper."

“He’s laid it out as a catch-me-if-you-can type thing,” adds John Campbell, former chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Behavioural Sciences Unit in Quantico, Va., The National Post reports.

In 2007, Magnotta made an attempt at reality television. He auditioned for reality series Cover Guy, a short-lived Canadian competition for “male underwear models”. He was dismissed by the judges for being too lean and told to come back next season, according to series creator, Larry Peloso.

The alleged killer's interest in necrophilia goes back at least as far as December, 2010, when Magnotta allegedly recorded a video, called "1 boy 2 kittens" which depicts what is apparently Magnotta suffocating two kittens. The video was then posted to Youtube. A follow-up video shows the same man “rubbing the cat's limp bodies against his genitals.”

“I don't see myself as some creepy pervert,” the author, assumed to be Magnotta, writes. “I'm just somebody who has feelings, real feelings, for dead men.”

“It’s not cool to the world being a necrophiliac. It’s bloody lonely.”

There are rumors circulating the accused was romantically linked to convicted schoolgirl killer, Karla Homolka. However, police stated Thursday they have "no proof to substantiate those stories."

Authorities now have reasons to believe he may have fled the country. INTERPOL has issued an international wanted persons alert for Magnotta. He is described as white, weighing 61 kg (134 lbs), has black hair and blue eyes, and 178 cm tall (5'10"). He is also known as Vladimir Romanov or his birth name, Eric Clinton Newman.

It has also been suggested he may be traveling as a woman. An artist's rendering of what he may look like disguised as this is available here.